32 ESSAY ON THE 



" ckana, has a thousand peaks, with many places of v/orship. Thus he 

 '* made the Trishicdram or mountain with three peaks, and the Fushcara' 

 " mountain, with many rivers, producing every thing good and de- 

 " sirable." The north quarter is again omitted, because, as my learned 

 friends inform me, the north pole is inaccessible, and by no means a place 

 of delights The word 7iortli, mentioned in this legend, relates to the 

 situation of Soma-giri or the White Island, in the northern parts of tlie 

 White Sea, : an expression very common in the Piirdnas : every legend 

 relating to the White Island, and adjacent parts, generally beginning thus, 

 Cshiro'de-uttara-tiTume , in the north of the White Sea &c. 



But let us return to the White Island^ which was once well known to 

 western mythologists ; but, as I observed before, this denomination be- 

 came obsolete, and at last intirely out of use. The White Island, called 

 also '^Sweta-saila, or the White cliff's y is the Leucas-Petra oi Homer, "^'^ 

 which is a most literal translation of the Sanscrit. The venerable bard 

 places it at the extremities of the west, in the ocean, near the setting sun 

 or the Astagiri of the Piirdn'as, and in the country of the Manes, near 

 the elysian fields. In the argonautics ascribed to Orpheus, it is called 

 Leucon-cherson or the white country, and placed in the western ocean with 

 lerne, Erin, or Ireland. Lastly, it is mentioned by Nonnus in his Diony- 

 siacs (2) under the name of Leucon-pedion, or the white plains. Ino was 

 called Leuco-Thea, or the white goddess, from her going into that 

 country. It is true that the author of the etymologicon says, that this 

 white country, or place, was near Megara: but the Pur an as are positively 

 against it. Swcta-devi, or the white goddess, Leucothea in Greek, and 



' (J) Odyss. lib. 24°. 11. i; »/:= ;^ . v.". 



(^).DioNYs. lib. 10°, y. 76\ 



